Who is More Clueless? CIOs or Developers?

CIOs think that Developers in companies are clueless. The Reader Feedback in this article clearly shows that CIOs are just as clueless about Developers and why they are so!
8 Reasons Why CIOs Think Their Application Developers Are Clueless is an interesting article that lists 8 reasons why Developers are clueless about what the CIO is trying to do in a company, and how they are not helping much! The reader feedback indicates very clearly the other side of the coin - why CIOs are clueless about Developers, and why they may not care as much about the company as the CIO does! The article talks about how developers get excited about new technologies, don't have a business end view of things in a company, how they are not aware of Total Cost Of Ownership (TCO) issues when it comes to proposing IT solutions to business problems, etc. Some of the criticisms are valid, given the range of developers that I have come across. There are exceptional ones that are clued in to each and every one of the CIO observations above. I have run across developers that fit every stereotype CIOs paint in this article. I have run across developers who thought they were getting paid to have fun with Ajax, Silverlight or any other new thing come along - busineess objectives be danged! I have come across Developers who are perfectly in tune with company's objectives and can contribute very effectively in furthering them! For the whole list of criticisms please read the article following the link above. However, one of the observations from multiple readers is right on! Why on earth would a developer care a whit about a company, and what its objectives are, if he/she thinks that his/her job would be outsourced in 3 months? Where would the motivation for being a great corporate citizen and doing the right thing for the company come from? IT is suffering from the worst case of NOT CARING in a long time, unfortunately, about a company's business objectives. If you outsource IT to an external company - no matter how hard the vendor tries, they can never care as much about your business as YOU DO! Then there is not enough cajoling in the world that is going to make a whit of a difference. After all Loyalty goes both ways! Right on! This discussion brings out both sides of this issue without watering either one down. Rarely both sides are right! This is one of those times!
Lack of loyalty is one of the major causes of failure in every walk of life - Napoleon Hill

CIOs and senior management are absolutely apalling at communicating the basic point of what the business is all about to anybody, let alone application developers. I spend an enormous part of my day just trying to understand the various cogs that make our machine turn and almost without exception I might as well be reading tea leaves or gazing into a crystal ball. And if they can't get that basic business information disseminated to staff, how do they expect said staff to be in line with the business?

Controversially, and I am always attacked on this point -- the developers don't really have to have a 40,000 foot view of the business to do their job well. They do need to be in the minutae of code, they are engineers after all. This stuff (applications) doesn't just happen. If IT is generally not in line with the business than it is the responsibility of management at all levels to make sure that happens. That's what management are there for -- to make these decisions. And good managers, who back their staff but make it known that they can't really be bullied or bullsh***ed by technies, to which I've known a few, inspire amazing loyalty in their staff.

They need to make sure the needs of the business are taken care of as well as a degree of nurturing of their technical staff. Balance, but tilted in the business' favour. And until that basic communication occurs we'll get no real change in the status quo. "